A teenager from Leicester has been reunited with the ambulance crews who saved his life when he became trapped in a metal gate and went into cardiac arrest.
Kush Mehta, 14, from Thurmaston was on his way home with a friend on Monday, 6 February, when he became trapped in a metal gate in Ulverscroft Road in Belgrave, Leicester, and the pressure crushed his chest which immediately caused his heart to stop beating.
Ambulance crews were able to get to Kus within three minutes and performed CPR which saved his life.
Today, Kush was reunited with paramedic Richard Green, trainee technician Diane Cookson, trainee Richard Kennington and clinical operations manager Darren Alderton for the first time since the accident and he was able to thank them for saving his life.
Kush said: “It has been really good meeting the crews and being able to say thank you for saving my life.
“I can remember about five minutes before the accident happened when I was walking home, and then I cannot remember anything until about a week later when I was in Leicester Royal Infirmary.
“I’m feeling much better and I’m now back at school too.”
Kush had been trying to slip through a gap in an automatic gate when it opened and he was crushed between the metal bars. His heart stopped, he broke his collarbone and a rib, and suffered nerve damage.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service were able to prise the bars apart and lay Kush on the ground where they started CPR. Moments later our ambulance crews arrived and took over CPR from the firefighters.
Kush’s mum, Nita, received a call from one of Kush’s friends just after 9.30pm telling her to come to Ulverscroft Road quickly.
She said: “The doctor explained it was quite serious when I arrived. I thought if Kush heard my voice he would just wake up.
“It was surreal and so shocking. I kept thinking I would wake up and it would all have been a dream.”
Richard Green, a paramedic based in Narborough and who was one of the first on the scene, said that the ambulance crews worked with the fire service and a doctor to save the teenager’s life.
He said: "When we arrived, Kush did not have a heartbeat. We attached the defibrillator but there was no indication to use it.
“Within five minutes of CPR, Kush’s heart started and he took a gasp.”
Richard Kennington and Diane Cookson took Kush to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham in their ambulance, and he was later transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary where he stayed for two weeks.
Richard said that it had been fantastic for the ambulance crews to meet Kush again and to see what a quick recovery he had made.
He said: “It’s so rewarding to be reunited with a patient when you have saved their life, because you realise that everything you have done has made a real difference to someone.”
Kush is still recovering from the incident, but he is back at school and hopes to become a neurosurgeon in the future so he can help others.